Truth Calling
by chaletfan
Summary: Something's snacking on Potentials. And Faith and Giles are investigating. Season Eight.
1. Stagnant

**Stagnant**

"It's … murky." Faith folded her arms. "Like a lot of things. Murky." Giles raised his eyebrow at her. Just the one. She stared at him enviously. That was a mean feat. She'd spent days trying to pull that off. Hadn't worked. Life was a bitch. "How'd you do that?"

"Practice," replied Giles, "It took many hours of focused training."

"For real?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes. And then I began to teach myself how to rap."

She was suddenly dazzled by the image. "You'd be an awesome rapper." Giles glared. It was a familiar look and she batted it right off. "Seriously."

"Could we possibly deal with the demon?"

"Like I said, G-Dog, it's murky." She stared at the lake. "My word of the week. Murky. Sounds kinda like you when you say mucky. Which FYI is one of the prissiest words in existence. Mucky. I mean, who says that right? And this is all leading up to the revelation that I did not pack a bikini so I'm not taking a deep in the big blue."

The lake lay still-silent.

"Swimming demons," said Giles, "It's a new one. I mean, there's water demons, demons who live in the water, demons who _are _the water, but a resolutely land-dwelling demon that can do a mean front crawl? Most unsportsmanlike."

Neither of them moved.

"After you," said Faith. A whisper of wind threaded between her and Giles, picking up a strand of her long dark hair.

"No, ahem, ladies first."

"Oh no," said Faith, suddenly enjoying herself, "I insist. After you." She flashed a vivid, brilliant smile at him.

"I'm not going in there." There was a finality in his voice.

"Try it," she said, "I've been thinking of a career change. Maybe taking up the whole Watcher vibe. I could rock the tweed."

"You don't wear tweed, the tweed wears you." His eyes roamed over the water, scanning it. "I could do a spell."

"Work the Moses? Saves me getting soaked. I call it a win. I mean, I only have one of this shirt."

"Thank God."

"G!" Faith grinned at him. She enjoyed these moments of sparring more than she had ever thought possible. Her and Giles. Watcher and Slayer. Fighting the fight and doing it right. Hey, that could be their slogan. Faith and G. Giles and Faith. Wait. She'd always go in front of him. Alphabetwise at least. Faith and Giles. Faith. Her. She remembered the days when all the name did was burn her and remind her of her darkness. It was the way they said it. The way they said it and called her "Not-Buffy" inside their heads. Sometimes she wished-

She blinked. Heard the spit in her mind, heard the voices and saw the shadows rear up for a ticket out. "Not today," she murmured, clenching her fists and holding onto the light, "My name is Faith," she said, and reclaimed herself.

"Faith?"

"It's good," she said, brief, workmanlike, her darkness passing over her like a summer storm, "You do it yet? I don't see no Moses."

"Give me chance."

Faith smiled. Waved her hands towards the lake. "You have the floor, G."

He closed his eyes. Flicked his fingers. Let two words drop from his lips. "Stagnum bifidus." And it was the same as every time Faith felt magick, a small strange tingle sparked in her mouth and shot through her nerves. She felt it inside her essence. It was of her. It made her feel alive.

The water split. The still, stagnant water lifted back, with a cut as clean as a blade through the middle of it. Giles slashed left with his hands and then right, quartering the rolls of water, and then he raised his hands, palms upmost, and lifted it from the bed of the lake.

To reveal a somewhat surprised demon.

"My turn," whispered Faith, and she launched herself down into the soil, the plant-knotted bed of the lake, jumping over the suddenly dry weeds and twisting into the air, slamming both feet into the demons neck. If her years had taught her anything, it was that necks broke far swifter than many other places on the body. That was a truth that held for a lot of nasty.

The demon didn't fall. Didn't bend, didn't break.

She could feel the fire build inside of her. Her body began to move to the pattern of another fight held long ago. She gave herself to it. Let the Slayer lead.

Faith closed her eyes.

Giles felt his hand quiver as he watched her. Desperate to shout, desperate to help, knowing that he could do nothing but hold the waters aloft.

Faith stood still. Allowed the demon to come towards her. Felt the waves of darkness pulse out from it. And then she languidly snapped a kick at it, right between the legs, never once opening her eyes. She could feel it breathing heavily, not moving, but the stench of decay hung strong enough for even somebody not powered by hundreds of Slayers to track him. She dropped down onto her knees, lunging her body forward, tackling it to the ground.

It fell. Traded punches with her, grappled in the mud and the slime and Faith gave it back. Harder. Stronger. She was fire and right and power. This was her gift.

The faces of the murdered potentials swam in front of her as she cracked the demons head backwards, finally severing it from the body. A small gasp escaped it and it looked at her with a mildly annoyed air.

"You messed with my sisters," she said, kicking it away into the dirt, "So you mess with me."

And then Giles dropped a lake on her.


	2. Slippery when wet

**Slippery when wet**

"That didn't help."

"No, I uh, imagine it didn't." He couldn't look at her. He was too close to laughter. And in Faith's current state, that might not go down well. "You, ahem, there's a frog on your shoulder."

"And my life is complete." She dragged a sodden hand over her soaked shoulder and felt the frog jump off her. "I hate you."

"I accept that hate," said Giles, pressing his lips together, firming himself to ignore the potential for quippery right in front of him. "But might I congratulate you on a job well done?"

"Yeah. You can do that. You can also conjure up some of that sparkly fire crap to warm me out. Who knew Europe was so bloody cold." She paused. Grinned a little behind the mud and the water-scum. "Bloody. You're rubbing off on me, British, you know that?"

"Well you are from Boston," said Giles. He handed her his jacket. "It's likely that we're quite probably related in the dark and distant past. Colonialism and whatnot."

"Does it involve turkeys?"

"Does it what?" He offered her his arm. She grasped it and he pulled her out of the mud and up onto the rocks that circled the lake.

She ignored him as she swiftly stripped. Giles turned, suddenly embarrassed. "I could have drowned," said Faith, her hands wringing out the water from her clothes. She glanced at his back with amusement. "Damn I hope your back's listenin' to me?"

He nodded as she reappeared in front of him. "Oh yes," he said, "Undoubtedly."

"So what's with the newbie munch by this sham Phelps dude huh?"

Some days he marveled that he even understood her. But he did. He wasn't sure that it was even a good thing. The days of struggling to comprehend Buffy's mangling of English had taken on an innocent and rosy glow. He remembered them with intense affection. He shrugged and jerked his head towards the road that they'd left the car on. "Walk and talk?"

"Multitask. My kinda guy. Somebody who don't forget his body has other parts when he-"

"And now I too am scarred." He kicked a thread of weed off his shoe. "Our tenure together provides me with very little hope for our psychological futures."

"Dude, shut up." And, recognizing the shift in her tone, the way her body suddenly tensed, the way he wasn't some bloody rank amateur he'd lived in bloody Sunnydale thank you very much, Giles dropped to the ground, Faith cat-crouching beside him. She touched his arm briefly. "Stay low. Get to the car. Now!"

Giles moved. They'd shared enough already, him and Faith, him and this wild fire of a woman, to know that sometimes the Slayer led and he had to follow. There was no traditional Watcher / Slayer relationship between them. Those tables had turned long ago. Now they worked as equals. Or as equal as one superpowered magick soul could be compared to a dabbler like himself.

His strides were long, ground-swallowing, and he didn't look back. Focused forward and moved with the ease of having spent a long part of his life escaping the shadows in the night. He heard a crash behind him, some swearing that would put many people to shame and then a demon flew over the top of his head.

Faith flared beside him. "Run," and then she disappeared again, keening her cry against the darkness. He ran, his eyes fixed on the road, seeing the moonlight pick up the detail on the car and he fumbled in his pocket for the keys. Which he then promptly dropped.

"Shitting hell," he cursed, crouching and scrubbing his hands through the grass, deathly aware of the pitched battle occurring behind him, "You bloody buggering fool." His heart began to race as his fingers scrabbled through the mud, searching for the keys.

"Sitting around G?" Faith span by him, delivering a powerhouse kick to a _something _that fell out of the trees. He didn't respond. His fingers finally caught the keys and with an audible sigh of frustration and relief, he powered forward and clambered up the last few inches of muddy path onto the road. A car whizzed by, making him scream, and then, more embarrassed about that then the pitched battle Faith was conducting behind him, he rammed the keys into the door and fell inside.

The engine roared and he was suddenly overwhelmed with a dreadful sense of déjà-vu. He'd done this too many times; the escape from something nasty. "Find a new hobby Rupert," he muttered, revving the engine, "FAITH!" Not too loud, not too panicky but pointed. It was a tone he'd honed over the years.

She appeared; a goddess borne from the darkness, span, snapped out a kick and then threw herself in the car. Giles drove, his eyes grimly fixed on the road as Faith grappled with a would-be passenger. She swore, twisted heavily and then finally flung it off her with a vicious grunt of anger. Faith fought bodily. Always had. Buffy was lightness and life and intuition. Faith had that; had that and more but her powers came bundled in a parcel of blunt physicality.

She turned round to him, calmly slamming the door on a demon neck, "All good?"

"All good," he confirmed, flooring the car and cursing at the languid acceleration. "And yourself?"

"Fine," she said, crashing the door back on the demon. He winced slightly as the head rolled over her feet. Faith grabbed it by the hair – tendrils? – and tossed it out as though she was tossing out the rubbish. Which in a way she was. He appreciated her sangfroid more and more these days. "Any idea what that was?"

"Tall, scaly, mondo bad hair. Stinky breath. Kinda like that pond you dropped on me earlier. Oh my god!"

He flung the wheel round and saw nothing. "What-the-?" The car squealed as they skidded and he pressed the pedal, powering out as best as this poor excuse for engineering would allow. "Please don't do that again."

"Ease off the stuny driving, G." She scowled, working a lump of sludge free from her hair, "The OMG was due to my having just realized that the demon that I fought was Swamp Thing. Or it was my brother from another mother. Dude had serious bad hair issues which I can totally sympathise with on the morning."

"It disturbs me that I can follow your train of thought." He took the next left, heading unerringly back to the small town they'd left only hours earlier. So much had happened. The Slayer they'd come to find. Dead. Another. Dead. A demon with an unerring hunger for Slayers. Dead. But what of the group that had just attacked them? Where did they fit in?

"I don't get it," said Faith, and he realized that she had been thinking the same thoughts. Spooked him sometimes how swift she was. She continued. "Why pick up the pace in your vendetta against us when _we're _in town? We weren't particularly silent."

His thoughts flitted back to their welcoming committee. And then to the silence that spoke of death. "No," he said, "We weren't. Which makes it either stupid or it simply didn't care."

"I know I'm getting on in Slayer terms but I aint pickin' up my pension just yet." Faith scowled. There was still something about this that threw her. Something sticking in her brain and the thoughts not working. "Giles, I don't know, the girls, they're all dead and I think it's cos of me." Truth. It spilt out at the worst of times.

He twisted to her, eyes half on the road, eyes half on her. "Faith, you know that's not true."

"I do," she admitted, "But then in the same breath I don't. Like what if it was us?"

"Don't you bring me into this," he grumbled.

"Dude, hush, listen." Faith paused. Ran a hand over her hair, pulling out a knot, "Like maybe we're just a lightening rod for the nasty. You gotta admit since we started the Batman Robin thing, life's not been quiet."

"Was it quiet before?"

Faith got the point. She nestled back in her seat, her eyes dark and thoughtful. Giles turned back to the road.

She spoke again when they hit town, the lights flaring onto her face. "I don't like it G. I don't like that we made these kids a target. Like somebody painted a red dot on their back and lined up the rifle without them knowin'."

Giles didn't respond instantly. He pulled the car down a side street, and eased it to a halt. Finally, he turned and looked at her, a small sad smile on his face. "You empathise with them." It wasn't a question.

Faith nodded. She smiled back at him. "Need to find them G, need to find them and tell them. Then they can choose. I couldn't choose. They still can."

"Then, I suppose, I'm getting no sleep tonight."

"Not until the ooglies start working daytime boss."


	3. Candle Light

**Candle Light**

Bellereine was a still, silent place in the darkness. Elise knew each inch of it, knew how each street felt and sounded yet tonight it all felt different. So different. As if she'd never seen any of the town before.

She stopped. The wind was whipping in from the Pyrenees and yet she wasn't cold. She wasn't cold. She was stood in the middle of the night in a mountain town, the weather dancing on the edge of a storm, and she suddenly realized she was hot. Burning boiling hot. Her skin prickled with a heat she couldn't understand.

Elise began to walk again began to run as the heat built inside her and it made her want to shed her skin her thick winter sweater fell behind her cast aside she didn't care she had to cool down and suddenly she was running anything to feel a chill on her skin but it didn't come nothing came but that rush of heat and she ran faster her limbs pounding down on the deserted street her t-shirt flying behind her white flag in the darkness until she was just running in her vest and her skirt and then she ripped it off flung it aside flung it away and she was in her shorts and her vest and boots and suddenly the air tingled on her skin and she gasped with relief but didn't stop running would never stop running would do anything to stop feeling like this she would never stop-

"_Stop_." A something. To the side of her. Sudden pain. The worst she'd ever felt. It slammed into her.

And she screamed and span into to the floor like a moth touching flame.


	4. Beacon

**Beacon**

Giles closed his hands over the crystal. "Oh I know it looks all voodoo but it works," he insisted. "Any more potentials in the area, we'll find them." A scream. Loud. Long. "Or perhaps we could use a less technical method?"


	5. Choices

**Choices**

"You know there's no way that this can look good," said Faith. She gestured at the girl, half-stunned, half-dressed, and laid awkwardly on the ground.

The demon paused. That was all she needed. She slipped in between the two of them, grabbing the thing around what she really hoped was a leg and pulling it away from the girl. It fell heavily on her, a hiss of pain and annoyance. Faith caught sight of Giles, easing the girl away. She could work now. She could do her job. And she did her job damn well.

"Part of a clan? A club?" She punctuated each sentence with fists. Occasionally alternating with a headbutt. "A sorority? What is it? Who are you?"

"Just me." The demon spat at her, wheeled and kicked her back. "Now you've killed my mate. I smell his blood on you."

She gave him a look of utter disdain. "Wow, that's so sad. Also a little icky with the smelling thing. But whatever, I really don't care. What's with your Slayer thang?"

It shrugged. "Tasty. _Stop_." Something heavy swung into her stomach, winding her though neither of them had moved, and then she felt pain. Like she'd not felt for a damn long time.

Pain did one thing to her.

It pissed her off.

"Tell me what – you – want." She gritted her teeth. Rode the pain. Mastered it. Didn't show how much fury was inside her. Just rocked backwards on her feet, legs wobbling, selling it.

"Doesn't matter," replied the demon.

"Does to me," said Faith. A mist of red blew into her vision and she blinked, driving it back. "I'm Faith."

"Know that."

"You do huh? Guess my fame's spread." She rooted herself. Brought herself back to the moment. "So share dumbass."

"Atero," it said. It stepped forward.

"Atero huh? Pithy." She wheezed as breath forced its way into her lungs. The demon smiled and gestured at her again. "_Stop_"

"Fuck you," she snarled, wincing as her body burnt with the pain. But she'd taken worse. Always would. The thing was to accept it. Accept the pain and take it and leave it. Life hurt. It was a lesson that had taken a long time to sink in.

Faith the Vampire Slayer stood up, stood tall, stood strong. "You hurt me, you son of a bitch, I keep coming. "

"Kill you," hissed Atero. "Can kill you with a word."

She stared at him. "I'm the Slayer that don't die easy."

"Like to test?"

And suddenly Giles was beside her, a dark look of fury, a fireball in between his hands, flame-sparking into the night. "Not today," he snapped and flung the fire at Atero, "Now Faith!"

Her power. It ripped into her body and pulled her into the glory. Moments like this, where the Slayer inside her sang, these were the moments that made it all worthwhile. But then she stopped. Held the neck of Atero in her hands, the demon broken and beaten, gasping for breath.

Because the girl had come back. Because the girl had been watching all along.

"Why do I know you?" she whispered but Faith heard it all. Her body felt the girls pain, the fear, the pain of the Calling still strong inside her. "It a-attacked me."

"It did. What's your name?"

"E-Elise," whispered the girl, her voice still leaf-light. "What are you?"

"I'm a Slayer," said Faith. She dropped the body of Atero. It crumpled at her feet, breath tearing raggedly through what remained of it. "Don't be afraid."

"I know you," said Elise, "How do I know you? I've seen you fight. In – in my head." A pause. "Others. So many faces."

"Slayers, Elise, all of them Slayers. We deal with the nasty shit that's out there." Giles winced at the blunt description. "You're one of us. If you want to fight with us, that's cool. If you don't, then that's still cool. The thing is, you choose, Elise, you choose what you do with your power." A memory passed over Faith and she shuddered reflexively, "I couldn't choose. But you can. You decide. You decide what you want to be. Nobody else. You don't have to fight. You don't have to do anything. I'll save you. I'll keep you safe-"

Atero lifted its head and Faith felt the pain hit her again. She flew through the air and landed heavily into Giles, knocking the two of them backwards.

Atero rose. "Came for you," it said, looking right at Elise. "Kill you first."

Elise looked at the stunned man and woman and then looked at the demon that was advancing on her. She shook her head. "Then I choose," she said, "I have seen her fight. She fights for me." She bent down to Faith, touching her hand, a soft look of wonder on her face. "You will not die today."

Giles opened his eyes to see a Slayer being born in front of him. He touched Faith gently on the shoulder and heard the Bostonian curse heavily as she dragged herself back to consciousness. "What the f-"

"Hush," he said, "Let her go."

And the two of them sat there and watched as a girl made a choice to stand against the darkness.


	6. Baby Steps

**Baby steps**

"So are you … together?" Elise glanced curiously between the two of them.

Giles pursed his lips. "I'll leave this to Faith." He suddenly found something hugely interesting to stare at.

Faith rolled her eyes. "Excuse the fancypants, he's just conditioned to be embarrassed. It's a british thing. He's my Watcher. Kinda. Sorta. Look the details are fuzzy. He's a – a – "

"Friend," cut in Giles, "Friend."

"And together you fight the … merde … what did you call them?"

"Faith probably used some intelligible vernacular, it's quite understandable that you may be remiss in your meaning-making."

"Hands up all those who understood that then?" Faith smiled at her. "It's nothing special. We do this all the time. All there is to say is that you wanna come with, do. You wanna stay, stay."

"Where do you go?"

"To be honest, we're rather remiss at planning."

"And we tend to not. Plan. Blowing on the wind that's us."

"You could … blow … too…" He stopped. Reddened. "That sounded different in my head."

Elise smirked at him. "I imagine so." Sunlight began to prick at the edge of her senses and she suddenly remembered the start of the night. So much had changed. Her whole world had been flipped. The voices in her sleep had been telling the truth. She was a … a superhero. "Is there a, uh, costume?"

Faith looked at her seriously. "I proposed pink but I didn't think I could rock it." There was a suspicious snort of amusement behind her. "I will hurt you," she warned, not turning around. "To be honest, I'm thinking we need to stay around here a while. The killings – the other girls – they were Slayers too."

"God." Elise stopped. "Three of them? Here? In Bellereine? But that's – I should have known. I mean, I, I know you. Why not them?"

Giles took off his glasses.

"Dude, remind me never to play poker with you," chided Faith.

He put his glasses back on and paused briefly to glare at her. "Did you not feel anything?"

Elise shook her head. "No," she said, her accent strong in her sharp reply, "Nothing. Just. Last night. God, that was all it was. Last night. I felt – so hot. Like I would burn. And I just wanted to run. I had to get outside. I didn't know what I was doing. If I felt anything I did not realise. Could not realise."

"Atero spoke of his mate, G," added Faith, "Suggests two right? No more?"

"There could be more?"

"There's always more, 'lise."

"I'll scry for them later. But now I think we need to be somewhere less public. I'm sure Elise has many questions for us an perhaps … in the middle of the town … near the remains of a demon … might not be, ahem, the most subtle of places."

"You're right. People talk," said Elise, "But perhaps they should. Two strangers in town. Death. You do look somewhat … suspicious. I will take you to breakfast. You will meet my mother. She'll tell everyone that you're okay. Countryside. People talk. Sometimes it is better to get them to talk in a certain way."

"Fair comment," agreed Giles. He smiled happily. "I've not had croissant for quite some time now as somebody keeps insisting on doughnuts for breakfast. You'd not believe the troubles we face."

Faith sighed at him. "I'm a Slayer. I burn the carbs. And I didn't see you passing up on any of 'em."

"I have a sweet tooth," said Giles with great dignity.


	7. Breakfast

**Breakfast**

Faith had seen a lot of people coming to terms with a lot of stuff. The light. The dark. The fact that their sister / daughter / lover was a superhero. It didn't come easy. She knew that. The sad thing was she'd never had anybody to tell. She could only wonder what it would have been like for her. The telling. The secret-sharing. Her life had been one whole open book for everybody but her.

But she hadn't imagined it would go down like this.

"Are you married?"

"Why does everybody ask that?"

The woman rolled her eyes eloquently at Faith and Elise. "They're children."

"Women children," said Faith, "Uh, that sounded better in my head.

"I'm a Watcher. Former." Giles had his game face on. The air of comfort around him simply shone. It was no comfort to Mama Elise. The woman was pissed. Faith knew pissed. Knew that sometimes feelings made themselves known in the worst ways and all you could do was let it happen.

Elise grabbed her mom's arm and spoke rapidly at her. Not understanding a word, Faith sat there and pasted a smile on her face, hopin' they were being presented as the good guys rather than the molestors of innocent French girls guys Mom obviously saw in front of her.

Giles sat down. "My, um, my French isn't really up to translating."

Unable to resist, Faith whispered back at him. "So you can do Spongebob knows how many ancient demon dialects but French defeats you?"

"There's always a first time for the French to defeat somebody," said Giles.

Faith whistled under her breath and then slapped the innocent expression right back on her face. Elise was talking at her. "This is Faith. Faith, my mother. Therese. Also, this is Giles." Ha. Faith had to stop herself from elbowing him. Giles was an Also. Too too funny.

"Madame Landes."

"Okay. Check. Thank you for allowing us into your home." She could totally act the nice when it suited. Right now it did. Madame Landes visibly softened. Just a little. But that was enough. All she needed was a little. She could move mountains on a little. "Your daughter's very brave."

Madame Landes shrugged. "This I know." But she sat down. Faith smiled inwardly. Score one for Team Pointy Stick. "Is it true?"

Giles made to speak but Madame Landes held up her hand. "No. From her." He subsided with a quiet little huff of annoyance.

Faith made a mental note to stay here as long as possible. "I don't know what she told you."

"Everything."

"Well, Madame, everything's true. All of it."

"I'd be dead without the two of them."

"Na." Totally lying but she wasn't gonna share that in front of the kids mom. She'd learnt that that sort of candour didn't go down well with the newbies. Madame Landes looked for a long moment at Faith and then turned briskly to Giles. "Tell me who you are."

"Well, I uh, I, I'm a Watcher."

"And magick. He does magick."

"Magick?" Therese and Elise spoke together and Faith was startled by their sudden sharp snap of interest. The daughter spoke, "Mr Giles, I didn't realise."

"The uh, the fire, E," said Faith pointedly. She gestured with her hands. "Not normal for a fireball to pop outta somebody's hands, you know that right?"

Elise shook her head. "I was – not sure what I was seeing. Is it true? Is it real?"

Giles nodded. "Yes," he said simply, "But I-"

"Tell us of the magic," commanded Madame Landes.

And Faith felt a sudden sharp stab of unease inside her.


	8. Evensong

**Evensong**

Birds. And insects. And the land aching with relief as the heat of the day finally eased off.

Darkness was so noisy here. The darkness she knew was silent, still and private. All the better to work in. But now, right now, in the middle of nowhere, halfway up a mountain, the clouds so near she could touch them, it was the loudest night she'd ever experienced. A city girl like her weirded out by the country life? God. Some days she wondered how she'd ended up here. Truth be told, she'd never expected to live long enough to see her twenties let alone another country.

And then a snore rippled into her thoughts.

"Dude," she said, "Wake up. I think there's another course." She poked Giles with her foot. "I take you somewhere nice and this is how you repay me?"

The day had been long and hot and heavy and eventually, as the shadows fell, Madame Landes had insisted that they stay for dinner.

Faith's stomach had accepted before Faith's brain had caught up. The four of them had sat down in the long garden just as the sun was beginning to set. The sky: blood red.

Dinner consisted of duck. In all its possible forms. There was bread that made Faith gasp in delight as she snapped it in half and watched the just-baked puff of steam billow out. This was followed by duck, and some more duck. All of it ridiculously gorgeous. Had to be witchcraft. No doubt about it.

Giles groaned and opened one eye at her, like an overgrown owl. "Really?" His voice was weak.

She smiled at him. "Make the most of it, cowboy, next week y'all be back on stew and grits."

"In England," said Giles, pulling himself upright with a small moan for his full stomach, "We grit our roads in winter. In America you call grits a foodstuff. I hope to God they're not the same thing."

"You know something, I don't think I even know what grits are. They just had them in a restaurant once and I was too busy bang-" She stopped. No way was she sharing the story of the Padre and the crocodile and the hot young waiter with Giles. Well, maybe not until they'd downed a few beers.

Giles gracefully ignored her. "Perhaps that suggests weight to my theory. No wonder you have cast-iron insides." He glanced back into the kitchen, the shadowy bulk of Madame Landes bustling over the hob. "Elise is inside?"

"Ladies room," replied Faith, "Makin' room, I guess, for dessert."

"You are, as ever, eloquently to the point." Giles shifted on his seat, his stomach pressing against the buckle of his belt. "This is torture. It's quite possibly illegal if one were to consult the Geneva Convention."

"You big girl, you love it."

"I do not. Nothing in this meal has come remotely close to the joy of a good haslet sandwich."

"Haslet?"

"I wouldn't ask."

Faith accepted this. She'd asked in the past. Black pudding had been a painful interlude for the pair of them. She didn't want to go back there. "So, tomorrow?"

Giles didn't respond instantly. Faith glared at him, hoping he picked it up through the dusky half-night that surrounded them. "Tomorrow? Hunting right? Find our bad dude? Slay the dragon and capture the princess." He still didn't respond. Just stared at the ugly little dried flower decoration in the middle of the table. "Dude?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "I'll moon ya if ya don't respond."

Luckily at that point in time Madame Landes reappeared . There was a glorious looking tart borne in front of her like a winners trophy. She glanced at the two of them. "Apple." Elise came out of the kitchen moments after, her hands still glistening with water. "Mama's apple tart is legendary."

Giles smiled at her. "Sounds marvelous." But then he did a very deliberate thing. He took off his glasses and began to clean them.

That told Faith one thing. Something about this scenario felt wrong to Giles. And if it felt wrong to him, she damn well wanted to know why.

Elise looked at them longingly as she carved out a slice of tart. "Please tell us more of your exploits."

"Nothing much to tell," said Giles deliberately, cutting Faith off from Slayer History 101. But her spider sense was tingling now, tingling bad and it was all centering around that weird little flower thing that Giles couldn't take his eyes off.

So she decided to make things happen. "This is nice," she said, totally lying, "Can I get one? Maybe a souvenir of our visit or something?"

Elise gasped and took it swiftly off Faith. "I'm sorry-"

"-Elise?"

"It's a talisman," said Elise shyly, "But it must not be moved once made. We're … the mountains, Faith, they have things we don't understand. These are traditionally placed in our house to ward the darkness away. Ironically I always thought they were … but now I know they're real." And then, with sudden worry, she turned to Giles, "They _are _real are they not?"

"As a rule, yes." But his eyes were flicking back to Madame Landes who sat there, stolid and silently chewing on a mouthful of tart. A vision of innocence. But he, he with his life thrice lived and the darkness beaten back more times than he could remember, he knew that something was terribly wrong with her.

Elise grinned happily. "So yes, I will make you one. Mama taught me how. She learnt from her mother. As will I one day."

"If," said Giles abstractedly, still maintaining that deliberately light tone to his voice, "my botanical knowledge serves me right that's a mixture of primrose and – and willow is it not?"

Elise nodded approvingly whilst Faith stared at him. "Dude, one day I am gonna find something you know nothing about." She paused. "Wait, synchronised swimming. Tell me you know nothing about that."

"Well, I do appreciate a well executed Eggbeater" He looked smug for a moment before recalling the quite delicate situation they were currently involved in. "So, yes, primrose and willow. Interesting combination madame. Rather reminiscent of a _Hellequin Chanson_ is it not?"

And finally, he got the reaction that he'd been wanting.


	9. Hellequin

**Hellequin**

Madame Landes very carefully put down her fork.

"_Mesnee d'Hellequin," _she said. "To be exact. So. You've heard of me then? What gave it away?"

"-Mama?"

"-Quiet_!" _snapped Madame Landes, and Elise gasped at her.

"Listen to your mother," said Faith, very carefully wrapping her fingers around her knife. "She knows best after all."

"Shut up!" cried Elise, a high pitch creeping into her voice, "What are you saying?"

"I know she's not your mother," said Giles, "If I'm right, she's been dead for some time."

"She's right there! What the hell are you on about ?"

Giles nodded at Faith. "Ready?"

"Always." God she loved this guy. She would always have his back.

And then he snatched the talisman from Elise and ripped it in half.

Two things happened in swift succession. Elise leapt towards him and Faith caught her, spinning the two of them away from the table and crashing into the plantpots that mossed the side of the house. Shards of terracotta sparked into the air around them as they scuffled. And then he saw Madame Landes stand up, and begin to split in half, her skin ripping open.

"Madame," he said, courteous to the end, "Thank you for the dinner. It was quite delightful."

Elise and Faith paused briefly, Faith pinning the younger Slayer who gaped at the creature exiting the skin of her mother. "Holy shit," said Faith, "That's all sorts of crazy."

"Mother!" cried Elise. And her hands tightened around Faith as the tears began to run down her face. Faith held the girl, her heart breaking for her.

The skin of Madame Landes fell lightly to the floor and outstepped a creature. Humanoid in appearance, but longer, limbs folded inside the shell of Madame Landes suddenly unfolded and outstretched and stood in front of them, completely jet-black save for the small quarters of red on its face. It cried out as it stretched, doubling in size, spine cracking as it released itself from what remained of Madame Landes.

"Light, G!" yelled Faith, "I'm gonna need some light here!" Darkness. Not good to fight the blending in demons. Elise suddenly punched a kick up into her stomach and Faith flew backwards, slamming into a bush.

"Mother!" Elise pulled herself up and stared at the monstrosity.

"Giles!" screamed Faith, warning him, and he only just turned in time to miss a punch from Elise. He whipped his hands together, lacing them but Hellequin looked at him contemptuously, "_Freeze_" and Giles froze, the shards of magic iced between his hands, and then Hellequin turned to the girl at his feet. "Come to mother," he said, and laughed. "I could just eat you up."

Faith pulled herself up, seeing this situation suddenly spilling out of their control. She ignored Giles, sorry G, gotta do what you gotta do, and grabbed Elise, shoulder charging her out of the way. "Sorry kid," and she cracked an elbow into Elise's head, hopefully knocking her out, before wheeling back to face the son of a bitch in front of her. Faith stood there, her fists balled, holding the weapon she'd palmed from the table.

"A fork?"

She looked at it. "Shit." And then she smiled. "You know something?" Faith dropped the fork at the floor, watching the light from the kitchen flicker off it. "I don't need anything to take you down."

"Oh I don't doubt," agreed Hellequin pleasantly, "But what of my friends?" He whistled three pure notes and suddenly a portal began to open behind him. "Your friend broke my charm. Means I can't stay hidden. Means I can't keep picking out victims for the Hunt. I am their emissary and you are an inconvenience! This was a ripe hunting ground, you fools! Kill one and another is born! Everlasting foodstuffs! AND NOW NO MORE!"

"I get it," sighed Faith, "Maccy D's for the evil. Can I kill you already?"

"You don't get it," Hellequin spat, slamming his fist into her face, "Look, you stupid harlot, look in the portal. Did you think I worked alone?"

And she looked into the portal and saw a cavalcade of Atero heading right towards her.

So she said the one thing she felt was appropriate for the situation.

"Whatever," said Faith, before she began to beat the crap out of him.


	10. Catch 22

**Catch 22**

Giles suddenly felt his body unfreeze as the demon's attention shifted. But he kept himself rock solid still. Faith had Hellequin held for now. Her sheer raw power had taken the demon by surprise and the two were locked in vicious combat. The magic bubbled between his fists, shards of knife-sharp ice, and he held it, feeling the magic pulse inside him.

But then he let it go.

And Elise was picked up the ice and hurled back into the wall, pinned there by the shards. She hung there for a long moment, stunned by what had just happened. Giles finally moved and ran over to her.

"I'll kill you!" hissed Elise, trying to pull herself free. "That's my mother!" She looked wildly at the demon and Faith, "She'll kill her!"

His temper flared. "I bloody hope she will!"

"Don't you dare!"

"Listen to me, you stupid girl! That is a Hellequin, a Harlequin, they act as – as dogs for the Wild Hunt. _La Chasse d'Helerchin! _You know that term, mountain girl like you, don't tell me that you don't! The Hellequins find prey for the Hunt – Slayers. Your – your 'mother' – has been finding people for these demons to kill. She's been telling these demons to kill the Slayers." He paused for angry breath, feeling his temper rip inside him, "My God Elise, look at what's going on! Open your eyes! You're a Slayer now, what the hell do you think she's going to do with you?"

Tears flared raw on Elise's face, "I – I – NO!"

Giles was quieter now. The confusion and fear of the girl was obvious. She'd not suspected a thing. The poor poor girl. "The talisman was keeping it inside your mother. Like a – a – _loup-garou. _The disguise. How long have you had these flowers here? In your house?"

"As long as I can remember" whispered Elise, understanding and hating herself as she did so.

"I'm so sorry." He suddenly couldn't look at her. Death. It stalked them all. They lived with it every day. Sometimes they realised this. Sometimes they didn't. It just hurt him so much to have to be the one to tell them that their life had been a lie.

But Hellequin had noticed their conversation. "Slaaayer," it hissed, "Slaaayer. Soft and juicy and tender-sweet. I have wanted to kill you for years, child, your whining and constant stench of humanity sickened me" he continued. Faith unleashed a round-house kick but the demon just swatted her away like a fly. "I wonder if you'll taste the same as the others?"

Giles pulled magick from the earth, willing it towards this creature but Hellequin cast him a glance of boredom. "_Still."_

He was frozen. Again.

Damned unsportsmanlike.

Elise gazed at the monster that had worn the skin of her mother. "Why?" she whispered, snake-caught in it's eyes.

"Because Slayers wield a power that should not be held by woman and what can I do but redress the balance? The Atero need to eat after all." replied Hellequin. "And you, my pretty little child, you who closed your eyes to all the death around you, you are as guilty as me."

"Don't listen Elise!" yelled Faith, battered, bleeding, several ribs quite possibly broken, but still so fucking angry with this bastard who thought it had her beat.

"Oh listen Elise," whispered Hellequin, "Maybe I'll eat you myself. The Atero can take your friends."

"They're not my friends," replied Elise.

Hellequin laughed as the portal grew larger. Giles could see the details on the Atero and he suddenly hoped his death would come quickly.

"The other girls didn't fight," said Hellequin, "They lay down. Asked me to take them. As will you."

"Not tonight you son of a-" Faith rose behind him, a tall dark night-borne fury. She slammed her fist into Hellequin's neck, opening out at the last moment to clench her hand around his throat, gripping and using the momentum to swing herself on top of the demon. She balanced there for a moment before punching down with both her fists, into his head, and Hellequin's skull bulged before splitting open.

The demon screamed and Giles felt his body return to him. "The portal! Get him in it!" He began to mutter the words of closing under his breath.

Faith rode Hellequin like a bucking bronco, twisting as he tried to work her free. "Not as easy as it sounds G!" gritted the Slayer.

But then Elise suddenly made her choice and ran past Giles and tackled Hellequin into the portal. There was a flurry of limbs and swearing and a sudden sharp gust of air as the impact threw Faith forwards and she flipped mid-parabola to land lightly on her feet and threw her arm out to Elise. "Grab on!"

The portal was already closing around them. Elise reached out to Faith. Sparks of blue flared between them. "Grab the hell on 'lise!" Faith hooked her foot around the kitchen door and leant in, willing Elise to live, "Please!"

And then she did it. Their fingers touched. For a brief mere moment their fingers touched.

"Faith!"

But it wasn't enough. Even Slayers couldn't reach. Faith locked eyes with Elise and knew she couldn't watch her die. "No!" she screamed, "No!"

Elise just hung there, caught in the closing portal and Faith could see the will leaving the kid. She was giving up.

"Don't you dare!" yelled Faith, "Don't you GOD DAMN DARE!"

Giles was suddenly beside her, still murmuring the words of closure, and he placed his hand in Faith's, looked at her with a brief businesslike smile and he pulled her back towards the kitchen. She stared at him with barely repressed fury but a sudden pause in the spell allowed him to say, "Don't you dare let go," and then he jumped in the portal, his hand locked solid around Faith's and his other hand reached out for Elise.

Faith couldn't look. She wouldn't. All she could do was look at the hand in hers and she swore she'd never let him go. She pulled. Bent her head and bent her back and pulled, feeling the weight of something in her grip, but she didn't stop, just pulled. Didn't look behind her, just put her head down and waded towards the banal normality of the kitchen.

And out popped Giles, and then, just as the last fragments of the portal remained open, there came a cry of fear, of pain, of sadness,and Faith turned and Elise was there, laid on the ground, burnt by the Portal, bleeding from the fight, tears running down her face, but she was there, she was back, she was home.

Giles caught her eye. "You can let go of my hand now," he said gently.

She let it go. "You were trusting a lot in me there G." Her voice was steady. She made it so.

"Well," he said, "I've got Faith."

"Elise?"

"Leave," said the French girl. "Right now." She looked with barely repressed disgust at the two of them. "Get out of my home. Get out of my village. Get out of my country. If you stay I will kill you."

Faith stared at her. "'lise... what were we meant to do? We leave, and the thing keeps on killing kids? Really? You want that? One of the Atero dudes almost killed you! What else could we do?"

"Elise, please," said Giles, quieter, a note of undisguised sympathy in his voice.

But Elise turned her back on them and walked inside and very deliberately locked the door.


	11. End movement I

**End movement I**

Faith broke the silence a few days later. "Did we do the right thing?" she said, picking up a boot and spitting on it.

Although she didn't elaborate, Giles knew exactly what she meant. The night was burnt on his memory. "We did what we have to do," he said. "Fight the fight."

"We tore her life apart," said Faith. "Killed her momma, killed her chance of ever becoming normal." She dug into the leather, removing a chunk of caked on mud. "We're murderers G, just like demon boy." She'd not realised that until she said it.

Giles shook his head. "It may be a question of semantics, Faith, but you're a Slayer. A Slayer is not a murderer."

"Sometimes feels like it," said Faith.

"Sometimes it does," he said.


	12. End movement II

**End movement II**

She stood in the forest, stood there and held herself against the night wind that rushed through the trees.

How could she live like this? It was her fault it had happened. All of it. If she hadn't been outside that first night, she'd never have met the strangers.

Never have seen the demon.

It could have all been the same.

She could have lived her life.

Just like it was.

With her mother.

The wind howled and she climbed up the solid old oak tree, her body moving surely through the branches, the power inside her terrifying her as she climbed, barely losing breath. She paused there for a long moment, carefully twisting the rope around the branch before securing it with an elaborate knot. And then, still moving quietly, deliberately, with the utmost care, Elise Landes picked up the noose, looped it round her neck and then jumped off the branch and hung herself.


End file.
